Pirate Bay Founder Gottfrid Svartholm Loses Hacking Appeal

The Pirate Bay founder who had been found guilty by the lower courts in Denmark in December last year had immediately appealed against the sentence. But after a technically complex hearing a jury at the High Court today unanimously upheld the decision of the lower court.

Three judges and four of six jurors had returned guilty verdicts in 2014 and Gottfrid was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison.

Gottfrid Svartholm, the Sweden born Pirate Bay founder and his 21-year-old accomplice were found to have been involved in illegally accessing systems operated by IT company CSC. Svartholm was found guilty of gross vandalism under Danish laws because he has changed in files on CSC’s Web server.

After the sentencing by the lower courts, Gottfrid had immediately filed an appeal in the higher courts and this month his case came before the Eastern High Court. According to local media, whose coverage has been much less intense than when the Swede went on trial last year, the evidence presented by both sides was of a highly technical nature.

The high court however chose to uphold the ruling of the lower courts. The High Court has just announced that Gottfrid’s original sentence of 3.5 years will stand.

Writing earlier this week for Version2.dk, Elías Lundström reported that even as an IT journalist he had difficulty in following the evidence, a sentiment shared by Gottfrid’s mother.

“I also have trouble understanding it – how should any of the jurors be able to follow the evidence?” Kristina Svartholm said.

Gottfrid’s lawyer Luise Høj also underlined the difficulty in dealing fairly with such a complex case.

“I think overall that progress continues to be characterized by the fact that we all lack the technical knowledge to deal with this matter, and it characterizes the whole process,” she said.

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